apartmentalist.: What Wood You Do?

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February 25, 2005

What Wood You Do?

I'm always acquiring furniture in different shades of wood. Is it cool to mismatch them, or only if they are stark contrasts, or only if they're close in color? Or should I spread them out in different rooms? When I buy things I never think how the color is going to fit into the rest of things I own, I just judge the piece individually. -CS

Hi CS-

It totally depends on the look you're going for. There really are no hard and fast wood-mixing rules unless you are a very strict decorator who likes things very uniform. I personally like to mix it up a little.

First off, I know that I totally hate matchy-matchy furniture sets. No offense to places like Rooms-to-Go, or to people who buy the entire window display rooms from Pottery Barn, but you need to inject your taste and your personality into the space in order to feel comfortable there, in order to feel that it's really your home. Buying sets/suites that come all together is fine, and can look quite lovely, but I find it so impersonal. Sometimes the bizarre things that match nothing else are the objects that make your house warm, unique, and 100% you.

I like to use different woods to distinguish spaces. Like, my whole living area is full of dark cherry-stained wood pieces, but just a few inches from all of that, I have a pale, pine wood dining table (it sort of matches the shade of my hardwood flooring) and bright red-stained dining chairs (these match other red accents throughout the living space). So I have these micro-rooms within a room, and because everything in there sort of goes with a few other things, it doesn't clash or look too busy. It works.

And our bedroom is mostly pale wood, but my boyfriend's desk is metallic veneer. It really divides the space somehow, into office and boudoir. And the dialogue is maintained by other silver accents around the room, in frames and lamps.

However, mixing can be done poorly too. You do want your room to hang together cohesively, and you want each piece to have dialogue with the other elements in your room. Nothing should stick out like a sore thumb. If you can justify its inclusion by ensuring that everything in the room corresponds somehow to a few things without clashing horribly with the other stuff, then you've succeeded.

If you have a menagerie of different woods and textures and finishes with no common theme (similar shapes/styles), your room could just wind up looking like a furniture store. There are a few solutions to this:

Sand & repaint a piece or two to look more similar—be creative here, use red lacquer or even a crackle glaze if that is in keeping with your overall style

Sand & repaint clashing pieces into neutrals like white or black or beige

Keep things in one or two shades of wood, and weed out/replace the rest

You can always re-stain items, too, or have it done for you by a pro

Unite clashing pieces with creative accessories, like new matching metal hardware/drawer pulls, or twin vases and photo frame arrangements

Like paint, but faster and less labor-intensive, fabric is a great cheap equalizer... Depending on your style and the function of the furniture you want to cover, you could do some creative draping with cool fabric here and there to unify the room

Decor is all about balance, and balance is pretty intuitive... If it feels warm and balanced to you, it works, period

In the last sentence of your query above, ("When I buy things I never think how the color is going to fit into the rest of things I own, I just judge the piece individually."), you have totally hit upon the #1 reason people like me have a job. Of course you just buy whatever strikes your fancy... That is how we shop for anything else. The thing is, most furniture is a commitment. It's usually pretty expensive, and you'll see and use it every day, all the time. It's not like a shirt you can hide in the closet and wear occasionally when you're in a purple kind of mood, you know?

I see furniture and home accessories in shops that I really LOVE and WANT really BAD, but I have to literally force myself out of the store if I know that the object just will not fit into my space or a client's space. This requires so much control and discipline, it sucks. And sometimes I so regret walking away from wonderful finds.

If the desire for a non-matching piece is eating away at you, try not to do any impulse buying. Sleep on it. Do you love it enough to go back for it? Would you consider redesigning a room around it? Will it fit anywhere else in your world, like an office or a bathroom? Hell, you can also just throw it into the mix and see if it works. If you love it that much, who cares if it matches perfectly? The look of your living spaces evolve over time, and someday it might be the centerpiece of your entire aesthetic, the hub around which everything else flows.

Ask Apartmentalist is a weekly advice column. It'll appear here every Friday. Do you have a question about crafts, decorating, or your living space? Email Lara@apartmentalist.com.

Posted by Lara at February 25, 2005 05:11 PM

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